‘It gave me the confidence to put myself out there and land my first job in digital.’

Ewan Sanderson always wanted to pursue a career in digital marketing, but it wasn’t until he joined Squared Online that he found the self-assurance to get out there and make it happen.

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His journey began at his first job post-graduation at Cashmaster, a global company that manufactures cash-counting machines.

‘I worked within a marketing team of just two people,’ Ewan recalls, ‘and digital knowledge just wasn’t present.’

Recognising this untapped opportunity, he began to research courses on the web that could broaden his digital skillset and came across Squared Online.

‘The course appealed to me because it provided that over-arching strategic overview,’ he explains, ‘but I could see how it would also give me the chance to go beyond digital know-how. I also wanted to make a network of digital marketers in London, learn skills I didn’t already have and sharpen up my analytics.’

Did he tick everything off the list?

‘Definitely. The course was amazing – 10 out of 10. Much bigger in scope than a course you’d get at university level, even,’ he says. ‘I was learning and collaborating with people across the globe!’

During the virtual group projects Ewan’s team spanned continents with members based in the UK, Mexico and Turkey, so there were times when coordinating schedules was a little tricky – but the effort paid off.

‘I hadn’t worked in a virtual team before, and it was great to get that real-life practical experience of how global businesses are actually working. With all the tools available to us – Google Docs, the Virtual Campus, Hangouts – it was easy to work remotely as a group. It really felt like we were in the same room!’

The group projects not only advanced Ewan’s collaboration skills, they also gave him a chance to try out different roles than he’d normally go for in a team.

‘It was like I had this incredible support network to help me through the course,” he explains. ‘We challenged and encouraged each other to do new things. I found myself taking on more of a creative role than I’d typically do – putting everyone’s work together, fine-tuning the final product. I’m definitely more likely to put myself forward for tasks like this in the future as a result.’

With this new-found confidence to step outside his comfort zone, Ewan applied for a place on the EE Brand and Marketing graduate scheme halfway through the course – and got it.

‘Squared Online gave me the confidence to put myself out there and make it happen,’ he says. ‘A lot of what I learnt throughout the course has already come up in my new role, so I’m putting all that knowledge into practice.’

Now that Ewan has graduated and is making his way in the industry, how would he sum up his overall Squared journey?

‘It’s an incredibly valuable qualification – I’ve recommended it to so many people! I’m still in contact with everyone I met on the course, and I’m always bumping into people I know at alumni events and making new contacts. I joined the course hoping to start my network; now I’m always building connections.’